The Palworld Pokemon Mod Returns With “Legally-Distinct Pocket Creatures”

The Pokemon in Palworld mod by Aussie YouTuber ToastedShoes is back after a DMCA from Nintendo, but now its characters and monsters are legally distinct, featuring evocative names like “yellow rat” and “blue penguin,” PCGamesN reports.

While Palworld itself has been the topic of much debate, with some saying its cute, colorful monster designs are too close to Pokemon’s, ToastedShoes went one step further by modding actual Pokemon and characters Misty and Ash into the game. Unsurprisingly, Nintendo’s lawyers quickly went for him, resulting in DMCA takedowns against all his social media videos released about the mod.

Accordingly, the mod has now been released on Nexus Mods as “The Legally-Distinct Pocket Creatures Mod Pack,” with the designs changed enough to hopefully avoid Nintendo’s lawyers. Player character Ash has been replaced by a model of ToastedShoes himself, wearing a familiar red-and-white cap. All the Pokemon that were included in the mod have also been swapped out for legally distinct versions, such as “yellow rat,” which, unsurprisingly, now just looks like a yellow rat.

ToastedShoes also re-released his YouTube video for the mod, which now claims to be modding “bootleg Pokemon” into Palworld, showing off some of the newly legally distinct creature designs.

The Palworld modding community is being cautious around this issue, with multiple modding communities straight up banning Pokemon mods from being posted or shared in their spaces. Nexus Mods also announced it would not host Pokemon-themed Palworld mods for fear of legal reprisal from Nintendo.